OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 235 



and in such capacity he settled all of the French difficulties. In 

 1801 he was appointed to the supreme court to succeed Chief 

 Justice Ellsworth, but at the special request of the president 

 administered both duties until the end of the presidential term. 

 It was while chief justice that he acquitted Aaron Burr of the 

 charge of murder of Alexander Hamilton. 



He compiled the "Life of Washington" in five volumes on the 

 request of the family, sind afterward published the first volume 

 separately as the "History of the American Colonies." (1824). 

 The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by New Jersey in 

 1802, Harvard in 1806, and Pennsylvania in 1815. He was 

 elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at New York 

 University with a total of ninety-one votes, the highest anyone 

 received, except Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, Webster and 

 Grant. He died in Philadelphia, July 6, 1835, aged 79 years, 

 8 months and 13 .days. 



